Industrial automation systems, typically consists of input and output modules, controllers (Field Control Station), HMIs (Human-Machine Interface) and a control network used for communication. Typically it also contains one or more engineering stations, used for configuring the whole system including HMIs and FCS.
The Field Control Station (FCS) is a device that performs process control. It consists of various types of function blocks that execute control calculations and the input/output functions such as the process input/output and the software input/output.
Existing system and method or function block performs input processing, calculation processing, and output processing in sequence for an input signal read from the input terminal, and writes an output signal from the output terminal. It also performs alarm processing when abnormality is detected in input, calculation or output. Each function block that is configured to be used in an FCS has an associated tag name.
Any abnormality in plant is known as Alarm. Alarms can be of two types such as Process Alarm and System Alarm.
Process Alarms originates from FCS. FCS detects any abnormalities in the process from values such as the process variable (PV) and manipulated output value (MV), then reflects this in the function block alarm status while at the same time consolidating the detection results and giving notification of these to the HMI (operation and monitoring function) as a message. Alarm processing is found in each function block.
The alarm generated from a function block can have different status such as input open (IOP+, IOP−), Input Error (BAD), Input High or Low (HH, HI, LO, LL), Input Velocity (VEL+, VEL−), Deviation Alarm (DV+, DV−), Output Open (OOP), output High and output low (MHI, MHL), Bad Connection (CNF).
The system alarm notifies operator of the abnormalities in the hardware and communication errors.
The alarm processing level can be designated for each Tag (function Block). The alarms originating from the function block will have the designated priority (High, Medium or Low). Importance level for each Tag (function block) can be specified. For e.g. Important, General or Auxiliary.
The HMI system used in Industrial Automation usually presents the information to the operating personnel graphically, in the form of graphic pages (also called as process graphics, graphic views or mimic diagram). This means that the operator can see a schematic representation of the plant being controlled. For example, a picture of a pump connected to a pipe can show the operator that the pump is running and how much fluid it is pumping through the pipe at the moment. The operator can then switch the pump off. The HMI system will show the flow rate of the fluid in the pipe in real time.
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Graphic pages may consist of line graphics and schematic symbols to represent process elements, or may consist of digital photographs of the process equipment overlain with animated symbols. These elements of a graphic page are generally referred to graphic objects. Graphic objects can be configured to show the process value by associating them with corresponding process tags. They can also be configured to show alarm status of associated tags. Above content is based on existing knowledge.
The Overview Graphics is a special type of Graphic that is used to display the status of the function blocks. It can be configured so that operator can call related operation and monitoring windows based on function block status. The overall status of the plant can be grasped at a glance.
Design Time Configuration for Overview Graphic
The overview object, which is one of the constituent elements of a graphic, has functions such as process status list display, alarm status acknowledgment operation, and calling related windows. Various attributes such as name, type and display method can be set for the overview object. By organizing the windows hierarchically using this overview objects, alarm status and other information in the lower window can be consolidated in the upper Graphic window and monitored. Therefore, the alarm status of the entire plant can be grasped at a glance in the uppermost Graphic window. Alarm status monitoring using overview graphic is illustrated in FIG. 1. Also, FIG. 1 illustrates hierarchy of organization of windows. Further, refer to FIG. 2 for flow chart of design time configuration.
Run Time Behavior of Overview Graphic
The Overview graphic with configured push buttons when opened displays the buttons with the actual state. The button blinks and notifies when alarm is generated on the configured graphic. When the user clicks on the button it opens the configured graphic. The FIG. 1 shows an example. FIG. 3 shows an exemplary flow chart illustrating Run time behavior of overview graphic.
Above content is based on existing knowledge.
Some of the Disadvantages of Current Practice/Solutions
    1. Operators while monitoring and controlling a plant need to keep tab on various graphics to know the live status. However it is humanly impossible to focus on multiple graphics at the same time.    2. User needs to configure the Overview graphic to monitor each important graphic view.    3. Currently overview object doesn't consider tag importance or alarm priority; user is notified on all types of alarms.